Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War
This is a list of events leading to the American Civil War. See also Origins of the American Civil War. Summary and Main Points The first act concerning slavery in the United States was the Northwest Ordinance Act of 1787. This act declared that there was no slavery allowed above the Ohio River. This was the beginning of the divisions of the country over the issue of slavery. It also established what made up many of the northern anti-slavery states in the Civil War. The Northwest Ordinance Act started the long series of events that led up to the Civil War. The Missouri Compromise was the next declaration that stated where slavery could exist. Henry Clay of Kentucky came up with this idea, which stated the following: Missouri is a slave state; Maine is a free state; and the 36°30' line was the official dividing line between the free North and slave South. This act, passed in 1820, kept a balance in the Senate, with twelve free states and twelve slave states. This was beneficial to the South, but only for a time, for the most of the land beneath the 36°30' line was under Mexico’s control. This meant that the North would eventually receive most of the territories in the West like Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. For the balance to remain, the South would have to gain land from Mexico. In 1846, the Wilmot Proviso was passed. This bill said that Northern congressmen would only vote for the war if the land acquired from it became more free states. The primary reason for the South fighting this war was to gain such land for slavery. This strongly angered southerners and only widened the gap between the two changing regions. In 1850, however, the government made a complete turn from where it formerly stood on slavery. In the Compromise of 1850, a strongly pro-southern bill, all territories were open to popular sovereignty (the majority decides on slavery in the territory), basically meaning that the Wilmot Proviso was repealed. This bill, created, too, by Henry Clay, also established the Fugitive Slave Act, which said that all U.S. citizens were required to return any runaway slaves to their owner. Even though this was not strongly enforced, its meaning infuriated Northerners; their government had essentially accepted slavery as just and was enforcing its upholding. In addition, taxpayers were required to pay Texas $10 million to give up its claims to New Mexico, which would allow the creation of yet another slave state. The only part of the Missouri Compromise that benefited the North was that California became a free state and slave trade was disallowed in Washington D.C. The Kansas-Nebraska Act helped to even the playing field between the North and the South. Stephen Douglas from Illinois came up with such an act primarily to benefit his home state, specifically Chicago, by making these two territories states sooner, allowing for the construction of railroads. This act allowed the people of Kansas and Nebraska to choose the outcome of their states. Of course, both Northerners and Southerners rushed to these territories to express their opinion in the voting. By 1856, the country began seeing violence between the two groups, and this started in Kansas. Pro-slavery looters known as Border Ruffians angered anti-slavery activist John Brown. In response, he and his sons massacre five men from Pottawatomie Creek. These actions became known as Bleeding Kansas, and heightened tensions all the more between the North and South. The final, and possibly most influential, cause of the Civil War was the Supreme Court case The Dred Scott Decision. This began when a formerly free slave, Dred Scott, attempted to file a suit against his owner because he had lived in free states/territories. He lost this case, and the Court decided that: Slaves were not citizens, and, therefore, cannot sue; living in a free state/territory does not grant a slave freedom; and the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and was consequently repealed, allowing all territories to be open to slavery. See also * Timeline of the African-American Civil Rights Movement *[http://www.northandsouthmagazine.com/index.htm North & South - The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society] Notes Civil War Category:Political history of the American Civil War Civil War la:Temporale eventuum qui ad Bellum Civile Americanum adduxerunt index